STATE EXAMS: Absence of Berlin blockade causes stir

The absence of a question about the Berlin blockade was something that may have upset many Junior Certificate students who took yesterday afternoon’s higher level paper.

Thu, 11 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

This was the view of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) history spokesman Fintan O’Mahony. Although there is no guarantee of all three superpower topics coming up, he said the fact that Korea and the Cuban missile crisis were examined but not the Berlin blockade might have forced some candidates to attempt another section.

He said a short question on Mary Robinson’s job after being President would have thrown most students, despite being worth very few marks, as it appeared so early on the paper. He reported students had difficulty identifying a leader in Ireland’s struggle for independence between 1900 and 1912but said alternative questions were fine, as were those on exploration and on ancient Ireland.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) spokesman Tom Broderick thought students would have been happy with the people-in-history section. It was a student-friendly higher-level exam, he said, and those who revised the exploration section should have picked up marks with relative ease.

He said ordinary level paper picture and document questions were well worded, and students who put work into writing essays and paragraph answers should have been pleased.

Susan Farrell of the TUI said the higher level Junior Certificate French paper featured a very interesting text about a woman who tried to bring a little turtle into a plane hidden in a burger. She considered another one about how students cope with exam stress to be very appropriate.

The written expression tasks were in line with other years, and she felt the exam was overall challenging in places but that is always necessary to distinguish students of different abilities.

Amanda Quinn, ASTI French spokesperson, said the aural test might have been a bit of a challenge for some higher level students. The reading comprehension covered typical topics like food, holidays and music.

Ms Quinn said the written section was fair and very manageable for higher level students. She said the ordinary level French exam had comprehension pieces on food, school and music, while letter and postcard questions were in line with previous years.

Testing tweets

The fatigue of exam writing and the joy of finishing the Junior or Leaving Certificate were evident in the tweets: